tl;dr: The Brain Wellness Center is wonderful for brain health.
Finding BWC: Working in healthcare, we were familiar with TMS prior to finding the Brain Wellness Center. I did a ton of due diligence, dove into the research, called the Stanford Lab (SAINT study) the person on the line was kind enough to answer my questions (which I don't expect they often have the time for). They did recommend a clinic close to them called Acacia, not that I want to put a price on my loved one's care, but their starting is 25k for 5 full days of very intense sessions, which just wasn't in our time nor financial budget, not to mention our concerns about that modality's "sticking power" as indicated in recent papers. I called a few clinics, actually - I was okay with doing however long a drive was needed for the best care possible. I will say that the initial review of BWC's website was a bit overwhelming, not as polished as other clinic sites, but chock full of all the pertinent information needed. I called and was directed back to the website - I get it, if we all took up time to go over every question, they would get nothing done. The website, in the end, does have much of the information needed, more so than other clinics I found.
The intro: We were in full crisis when we contacted Dr. Hashemian - depression and most acutely, suicidality. I was fully braced to get a salesperson pitch since the BWC website gave off some of those vibes. I was very, VERY pleasantly surprised by Dr. Hashemian's empathy, straightforwardness, and how he was able to identify, before we really explained in depth, the experience and behaviors we were seeing. Hard to explain, but he just got it. It was clearly not his first rodeo. While I can get granular clinically-speaking and live in healthcare acronyms and processes, I definitely prefer explanations translated to real world behavior. He is great at this and it really helped me with goal and expectation-setting. We had pre-researched the process, so knew the general idea: touch-base with him, then brain mapping/testing, then scheduling of appts after the testing interpretation. We also understood the costs, since our loved one is under 18 and does not take meds, we would be paying out of pocket. There are no surprises, all costs are clearly indicated on the website and BWC's office crew are good at covering all of that again, if needed. I look forward to costs for TMS going down, but, in the meantime, we are very fortunate that we could afford it.
The sessions: Read up on TMS, of course, but the hummingbird tapping on your head is a good analogy. There are different modalities depending on treatment plan, but that's the general idea. There was no pain, the seats are comfortable, one can watch a show on one's cell phone, watch tv, sit back and relax. The sessions are short, we did back to back for some due to scheduling with about 40+ mins in between (they'll have info on the spacing of appts). I would wait in the waiting room, I know some folks are dropped off and picked up after their session. The waiting room is not huge, but seats are cozy and, honestly, it was my one downtime moment of the day so I relaxed during sessions, too. Masks are required and I was happy for it as our hospital COVID numbers were rising during the time we were there (plus I wasn't interested in spreading viruses to the folks in that office who were helping save my loved one's life).
The outcome: Please read further below to get past this next sentence. Some might not describe our outcome as a slam dunk in the way some folks describe their TMS outcomes (some folks go into full remission). Our family member has a presentation which makes outcomes of treatment hard to discern...but, as I mentioned, we had realistic expectation setting prior to starting. I believe this is important to try to do and understand.
HOWEVER. Prior to TMS, our family member was crying every day, self-harming, wanting to die, verbalizing this daily. Immediately upon starting TMS, this stopped, which could be attributable to many variables, right? Except we also and nearly immediately noted positive shifts in behaviors, more engagement, less rumination. Even if our family member didn't recognize these changes, we very much did. It wasn't a slam dunk because our journey isn't over, but I deem TMS with BWC a success. Our follow-up brain mapping was helpful and useful for our decision-making process. It's quite likely our journey will include additional TMS sessions and these with the Brain Wellness Center. The team is lovely to work with and always helpful. When I say I am grateful for Dr. Hashemian, it's an understatement. He recognized the pain we were feeling, he spoke to that in a compassionate and actionable manner. From day one of talking with him, he gave hope and has not disappointed since. Not to mention he also has a great sense of humor...just a wonderful person to work with on bringing more good health one's way. read more